NY trooper dies in fall into gorge during training

CASTILE — State police say a trooper has died after falling into the gorge at Letchworth State Park in western New York during high-angle rescue training.

Police say 44-year-old Trooper Ross Riley fell about 30 feet from a ledge into Wolf Creek around 1 p.m. Wednesday and died at Wyoming County Community Hospital.

Riley, a 17-year veteran, was an experienced rappeller and a member of a state police unit called the Special Operations Response Team based in Collins Center, 25 miles south of Buffalo. He was on a six-person team that helped save an injured hunter near the bottom of a 500-foot-high rock face in Zoar Valley Gorge in 2010.

Riley’s wife, Heidi Riley, is a state police station commander at Olean. They have three daughters.